002 Alexandra Palace (Grade II), Harringey, London

Alexandra Palace
BRITAIN + IRELAND HISTORICAL BUILDINGS
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The Alexandra Palace was built an entertainment venue within the area of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. "The People's Palace" and referred to as "Ally Pally", its purpose as a recreation, entertainment and education centre for the people of North London and a rival to the Crystal Palace in South London. conceived by Owen Jones in 1859, and was originally built by John Johnson and Alfred Meeson. The planned building was originally named "The Palace of the People"; it and its park were renamed to commemorate the popular new Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, who had married Prince Edward on 10 March 1863 In September 1865, construction commenced but to a design by John Johnson and Alfred Meeson rather than the glass structure initially proposed by Jones. The palace was built by Kelk and Lucas, who also built the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington at around the same time.

The Palace opened before an audience of 102,000 on 24th May 1873, but only 16 days later was destroyed by a fire which also killed three members of staff. Only the outer walls survived

But the Victorians did not mess about, it was quickly rebuilt and reopened on 1 May 1875. The new Alexandra Palace contained a concert hall, art galleries, a museum, lecture hall, library, banqueting room and large theatre. The theatre was also used for political meetings. An open-air swimming pool was constructed at the base of the hill in the surrounding park, the grounds included a horse racing course with grandstand (named Alexandra Park Racecourse which was Londons only racecourse from 1868 until its closure in 1970, a Japanese village, a switchback ride, a boating lake and a 9-hole pitch-and-putt golf course. Alexandra Park cricket and football clubs have also played within the grounds (in the middle of the old racecourse)

By 1900 the then owners were threatening to sell the area for redevelopement but it was saved and a charitable trust established o keep both building and park "available for the free use and recreation of the public forever" The palace passed into the hands of the Greater London Council in 1967, with the proviso that it should be used entirely for charitable purposes, and their trusteeship was transferred to Haringey council in 1980, who have since made abortive attempts to sell the park

During the First World War the park was closed and the palace and grounds were first used as refugee camp for displaced Belgians and then later from 1915 to 1919 as an internment camp for German and Austrian civilians. The theatre was greatly altered in the early 1920s, and concerts included Gracie Fields who drew an audience of 5000

In 1935, the trustees leased part of the palace to the BBC for use as the production and transmission centre for their new BBC Television service. The antenna was designed by Charles Samuel Franklin of the Marconi Company. The world's first public broadcasts of (then) "high-definition" television were made from Alexandra Palace in November 1936 Two competing systems, Marconi-EMI's 405-line system and John Logie Baird's 240-line system, were installed, each with its own broadcast studio and were transmitted on alternate weeks until the 405-line system was chosen in 1937, The palace continued as the BBC's main transmitting centre for London until 1956, apart from the war years when the transmitter was used as a jamming device against German bombers navigation systems. It continued to be used for BBC News broadcasts until 1969, and for the Open University until 1981including a live broadcast to mark the passing of Telstar in the 1960s.

The 1980s saw a second distasterous fire, destroying half of the building. Harringey Council wildly overspent on renorvation and attempted to charge the charity this action was overturned by the attorney-general in 1990 a decision not accepted by Harringey who have since been adding compound interest to what they see as a debt which eventually doubled to 60 million pounds and to recoup it tried to offer the whole palace for sale — a policy their successors are still trying to carry out despite being rejected by the High Court in October 2007. As of June 2008, it is still unclear whether the council in either of its guises has agreed to write off its 1980s overspend.

Today the Palace continues to host landmark events and is also the annual hosts to the PDC World Darts Championship (2008–present) and the Masters snooker tournament (2012–present).

In November every year, a large fireworks display is scheduled there as part of London's Bonfire Night celebrations.

Thankyou for a massive 57,111,234 views

Shot 28.10.2016 at The Alexandra Palace, London REF 124-002

Taken in: UK / England / Haringey / Alexandra (show map)

Taken on: January 2, 2021

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Ally-Pally

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Sets appears in: • About Britain. • London more » • Britain - London • Britain + Ireland - Historic Properties • Alexandra Palace 28.10.2016 « less

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